The red light district of the English town of Ipswich was deserted overnight as British police continued their probe into the murders of three prostitutes in the area yesterday, after discovering two more bodies.
The new corpses, presumed to be those of women reported missing for several days, were confirmed by police in the eastern port town, fuelling fears that a serial killer was at large.
All women are being warned to take care once darkness falls as the pre-Christmas party season warms up.
PHOTO: AP
"The natural assumption is that these are the two missing women," said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull, who is leading the investigation.
The first two murdered women -- Gemma Adams, 25, and 19-year-old Tania Nicol -- went missing in the red light district of Ipswich on Nov. 15 and Oct. 30 respectively.
Police on Tuesday confirmed the identify of a third woman, whose body was found in woods on Sunday, as 24-year-old Anneli Alderton, adding that she had been strangled.
And they admitted there was still no news of two other missing prostitutes: Paula Clennell, 24, who had not been seen since Saturday, and Annette Nicholls, 29, who had been missing since Dec. 4.
Later on Tuesday their worst fears appeared to be confirmed.
Around mid-afternoon a naked body was found in open rural land, Gull said. A helicopter was called in, and spotted a second corpse about 90m away from the first one.
"We can only fear the worst," Gull said. "The natural assumption is that these are the two missing women."
Gull has previously said that the killings could be the work of a serial killer. Asked for his view after the latest bodies were found, he said: "We need to keep an open mind."
While for the moment only the first two deaths are being linked, Gull has admitted that "the facts speak for themselves" in terms of the similarities between the killings.
"Although there are obvious and distinct similarities of the murders ... we need to carry out further work to determine whether these deaths are linked," he said.
Earlier the police chief launched a direct appeal to the killer or killers to surrender themselves.
"My appeal is simple: give yourself up," he said. "Make contact with Suffolk police. You have a significant problem. Give me a call and we can deal with this."
Meanwhile, it emerged that one of the missing prostitutes said only days ago that she was prepared to dice with danger by going back on the streets because "I need the money."
"The girls are probably wary about coming out now," Clennell told ITV television, in an interview after the first bodies were found, but added that while she was "a bit wary about getting into cars" she would probably still do it anyway.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
RSS